A/N: And here it is, a couple days late, but much better for having taken so long. I had a fun time on New Years, so I didn't write anything then. Sorry about that! The last few days have been crazy at work because of the holiday, too, so there went all of my energy for anything else. .

So glad that you're all enjoying this! This chapter's a bit shorter because I had trouble coming up with dialogue that was Dalek-esque enough to sound real. . Still not sure if I succeeded. I might have another chapter up by tonight as a bonus to you all and since I'm thinking that the next chapter might be the last in "Dalek." I didn't realize I could write this much inside an episode. I hope this hasn't been dragging along for you all. If so, please let me know so I can make adjustments in future episodes.

With that out of the way, enjoy the second to the last part of "Dalek!"

Dalek

Part Five

I flinched and dove to the floor as the Dalek fired wildly around the room. Never been near a gun in my life and my first time happened to belong to an alien that didn't seem to have been harmed by the bullets thrown at it. Great going, Jessica.

After an indefinite amount of time, its wild firing ceased. I still didn't move in case it changed its mind.

"The human will stand!"

So much for hoping it didn't notice me.

Its hatred and relief at finding a purpose smacked at me as I edged around the desk. It needed something to hate. Hopefully that was something I could reverse before the Doctor realized where I'd disappeared to. "Sorry. I didn't mean to sneak up on you," I offered, raising my hands a little ways away from my body. If it thought I had a weapon …. "Well, actually, I did, but only because I didn't want you to shoot me right away."

"You were with the Doctor, an enemy of the Daleks." Its gun twitched as the eyestalk flicked up and down. Just like it was trying to size me up.

"In my defense, I didn't know about Daleks until last night …."

"You are the Doctor's associate!" And of course it didn't listen to a word I said. "You know where the Doctor is hiding. Tell me or you will die."

I crossed my arms even as my mouth and throat dried up. "Wrong. Just because I travel with him doesn't mean that I know where he is. Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."

"You will tell me!"

"Nope." The rage that built up in the Dalek almost choked me. "Because I know you'd kill him if he didn't kill you first."

"The Doctor does not use weapons. I am fully restored! The Daleks will win the War when I kill …."

"Just stop for a second," I snapped, taking a couple steps forward. When the arm jerked my way, I froze again. Didn't want to push it too much. "What was that about you and the Doctor being the same? You two are the last of your kind in the universe! Doesn't that mean you both loose?"

There were a few seconds where the Dalek said nothing. Some of the hate wavered, its existence put into question. "You came from the surface?" Not as much hate and fury this time.

It couldn't know about the TARDIS. "Well, sort of."

"Then you will take me to the surface!"

"Um … why would I want to do that?"

"Do not ask questions!" Okay, the thing had a short fuse. "You know the path to the surface. The Doctor would not harm one of his companions. They will not attack or you will die."

"Hold your fire! We have a civilian blocking the view of the target."

Even with the Dalek's gun tracking my every movement, I heaved a sigh of relief as the dreaded bullets never came. I'd felt the soldiers two stories down. Their fear scraping along my nerves. If they'd had itchy trigger fingers—they were American private security, after all—I would've been shot. No ifs ands or buts about it.

According to the Dalek, I served it better as a human shield than as a means to escape.

Its hate still battered at me, but I countered with the pity and … compassion, I had to guess … that I thought I'd only keep in reserve for the Doctor. Truth be told, I couldn't sense if I made a difference or not.

"I will speak only to the Doctor."

"You had to go and get yourself in trouble, didn't you?" I knew better than to believe that mildly scolding take to the Doctor's voice. Though I couldn't sense him, the anger hidden beneath that sarcasm pretty much smacked me in the face.

It didn't make me feel guilty enough to apologize, though. "Oh don't worry about me. I had to try and help." There had to be a camera somewhere, but I didn't dare take my eyes from the Dalek. It didn't like being surrounded. The need to kill burned inside it, inside me from sensing it. I did my best to dampen it without having the Dalek notice.

"You're not helping, Jessica. You're just getting in the way. Again."

"No, I'm trying to save the last Dalek and the last Time Lord from themselves."

"Silence! The human forces will let us pass or the female dies!"

Nice way to undermine my determination, Dalek.

"Go ahead. It'll spare me the trouble of bringing her home," the Doctor snorted. "And while you do that, every man down there's going to start shooting."

The Dalek's confusion left it floundering for almost a few seconds. "She is your associate! I have been searching and history has shown that the Doctor will do anything to keep his associates alive."

"Find anything on your friends yet?"

"I … have scanned your satellites and telescopes." There, the Dalek's fierce determination to cling to the belief that its people were still alive took a significant waver.

The Doctor's victorious smirk glowed in the room. "And?"

"Nothing. Where shall I get my orders now?"

My heart actually twisted at the lost and stranded tones that made it through to the Dalek's monotone voice. I could almost feel it like it was my own. Before I even thought about it much, I reached out and touched its casing. Just for a second or two. Feeling it come through so fresh stung at me almost more than the Doctor's acceptance of it. At least the Time Lord had some time to come to terms with it. The Dalek still struggled with accepting that.

The eyestalk actually turned my way. My skin prickled with the feeling that something stared at me behind it.

"No one. You're just a soldier without commands."

One more scramble for that old rage. It was something safe. Something the Dalek knew by heart. "Then I shall follow the Primary Order. The Dalek instinct to destroy. To conquer."

"Stop it, both of you!" I could feel the Doctor's biting reply coming like thunder rolling in from the distance. If I let them keep going, it would grow even stronger and might make the Dalek snap, ending in people dying. "Dalek—I don't even know if you have a name—why do you have to kill or destroy anything? Yes, your people are gone and I'm sorry. I can't imagine how I'd feel if the human race was wiped out."

"Jessica …."

"Shut up, Doctor. What's the point for the two of you to keep fighting when you both lost? People are just going to get caught in the crossfire and die and you'll never win." A glint at the corner of my eye revealed a camera. Probably how the Doctor could see us. I glared at it as if I could see those brown eyes on the other side. "My point is that if you both keep going like this, you'll both end up dead and I don't want to see two xenocides in one day."

"They're Daleks, Jessica, they can't …."

"The Daleks must destroy …."

"Why?" This time I turned my glare onto the Dalek. The Doctor, I knew, could be reasoned with if I talked to him long enough. I had no idea what would get through to a Dalek who knew nothing else. "Even if you manage to kill the Doctor, what good would that do? It wouldn't mean a thing. Just give it up already before you send both your races into extinction."

I could feel the Dalek trying to grasp for any sense of normalcy. For what it knew. It struggled to adapt. Like Daleks had never needed to adapt to such extremes before.

When silence had lasted for several seconds without either of them trying to yell at each other—or me, come to think of it—I threw my hands in the air. "Fine. Let us through and I'll take the Dalek to the upper level like it wants. You both have until then to calm down and think about if you really want to slaughter each other. Or act like grown-ups, either one."

"Fine," came the Doctor's ground-out reply. Like he had to force it through clenched teeth. But if anything happens to her, Dalek, I'll make sure to rid the universe of your filth. You'll die before reaching daylight."

If I survived, I was really in trouble. Definitely no more field trips for me. Ever.

"You … would make a good Dalek"

Not the best way to stay alive. It probably just pushed the Doctor past the breaking point.

As the soldiers made a careful retreat for the two of us to walk through, the Doctor's mind jabbed into my own. No knocking. No asking for permission or even a care that it hurt. [Just what the hell are you doing? Daleks can't be trusted and I can't let it kill everyone! You don't know what ….]

[You're over nine-hundred years old, Doctor. Eat some humble pie and start acting your age.] With all the strength that I could scramble together, I kicked the Doctor's voice out of my head and threw away the key. As the Dalek and I began climbing the next set of stairs, I fully expected the Doctor to smash through again. I didn't even have half the mental strength he did. It wouldn't be a problem.

Only a whisper of a thought reached me. [We're sealing the vault at level forty-six. If you don't run now, you'll never make it.]

The urge to run, to escape before I became trapped and potentially die, itched in my legs. I clenched my jaw and forced myself to remain at the Dalek's pace. There might still be time for me to get through to one of them. If I could get the Dalek to change its mind, then they could unseal everything.

Maybe seeing a Dalek turn good would change the Doctor, too.

[I'm sorry.]

I couldn't tell if that came from me or the Doctor.

Sirens began clanging around us, sending my fear into an overload that I could barely contain. The staircase ended at level forty-six. We turned a corner to find a thick wall descending, blocking the way to freedom. I didn't care if the Dalek had its gun on me. My feet carried me to the wall, but not fast enough that I could slide beneath it. It boomed shut just as I reached out to touch the cold metal.

Trapped.

The faint whine of a camera made me look into a corner. It focused directly on me. Had to have been the Doctor. The reassuring smile that I tried to work onto my face didn't feel like it worked. At least Rose and the soldiers managed to get out. The Doctor wouldn't have trapped us both

"The Doctor lied!" The rage that came rolling off of the Dalek made me snap back around to face it.

"Yep."

"Why? He has trapped you as well."

I took a deep breath and squashed the growing fear that I might get shot after all. Mentally I urged it to pause, to think. To feel something besides anger and hate for once. I could feel the potential for that just beneath the surface. "Well, he's doing what comes naturally to him; saving people." I couldn't blame the Doctor for trying. Though it more than anything deserved a big smack on his head for acting like a soldier.

"Yet he cannot save you." The Dalek's gun fixed in my direction. "You will die."

"I know and I'm sorry you feel that you have to kill me. That's my fault." I held my hands away from me, though I wanted to curl up and hide.

"Anything not Dalek must be destroyed!"

"Then do it! I won't stop you."

I squeezed my eyes shut as that dreaded whine filled the room.